Books open ideas, challenge the mind

Professor has extensive, eclectic reading list.

Professor has extensive, eclectic reading list.

June 04, 2007|ANN LEONARD Tribune Correspondent

Michael Zuckert is looking forward to reading his large pile of books about slavery and the American founding. A professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, he is researching the topic of whether the United States promoted slavery or merely tolerated it. For those interested in reading just one book on the topic, he highly recommends "The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government's Relations to Slavery" by Don E. Fehrenbacher and Ward M. McAfee. Lately, he also has been reading "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville, "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" and "Dred Scott and the Politics of Slavery" by Earl M. Maltz. "All of these have some professional significance," he said, "but in all cases they are also for pleasure." Michael lives in a household committed to academia. His wife, Catherine H. Zuckert, also is a professor in the political science department at Notre Dame. She also is the editor of "The Review of Politics." With his commitment to research, Michael doesn't have much time to read strictly for pleasure, but he enjoys listening to audio mysteries by Ruth Rendell and P.D. James. He considers himself to have a "pretty eclectic taste in books," running the gamut from favorites like Georg W.F. Hegel's "Philosophy of Right,'" to John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government," to anything by Plato, to "The King Must Die" by Mary Renault, to Toni Morrison's "Beloved." "I look for books that teach me something," he said. "I look for books that move me. I look for books that are lyrically written. I look for books that challenge me intellectually." His interest in America's founding and founders led him to co-author and co-produce a nine-part drama called "Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson" on public radio. The series was based on the correspondence between the two men. Michael also wrote the basic text for a six-hour public television series on the American Revolution, a two-hour series on Alexander Hamilton and a series on Benjamin Franklin. "Benjamin Franklin is a very great man," he said. "Along with his scientific inventions, he almost invents the idea of voluntary associations, like the lending library and the volunteer fire department."